


Checkmate

by aerintine



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-09
Updated: 2010-10-09
Packaged: 2017-12-12 01:35:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/805613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aerintine/pseuds/aerintine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Set during the summer after Season 4.  Written for the <a href="http://penny-lane-42.livejournal.com/164912.html">Bechdel Test Comment Ficathon</a>, prompt from <a href="http://brutti-ma-buoni.livejournal.com/profile"><img class="i-ljuser-userhead"/></a><a class="i-ljuser-username" href="http://brutti-ma-buoni.livejournal.com/"></a><b>brutti_ma_buoni</b> : "Willow & Dawn: Checkmate"</p>
    </blockquote>





	Checkmate

**Author's Note:**

> Set during the summer after Season 4. Written for the [Bechdel Test Comment Ficathon](http://penny-lane-42.livejournal.com/164912.html), prompt from [](http://brutti-ma-buoni.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://brutti-ma-buoni.livejournal.com/) **brutti_ma_buoni**  : "Willow & Dawn: Checkmate"

 

 

 

“Checkmate.”

“What? How did you? Not possible.”

Dawn wiggled in her seat, her wide smile way too pleased with itself.

“That’s right, isn’t it? Checkmate? I win, right? I took my horsey and ran over your tall lady.”

Willow glared. “I only taught you this game two hours ago, Dawnie. You should be kissing my dust right now. You don’t even know the right names for the pieces.” She crossed her arms and stared morosely at the game board. “Grumble.”

“I told you not to play with her!” Buffy yelled from the kitchen. “She cheats!”

“Hey!” Dawn called back from the dining room where Joyce’s chess set was laid out. “I was, like, six! And it wasn’t even chess. And, anyways you’re not even a part of this so whatever!” Dawn turned her attention back to the pouting redhead across the table. “Aw, it’s ok Willow. You wanna play again? I bet you’ll win this time. You were so close just now with your knobby-headed guy.”

Willow looked up at her perky adversary, visibly annoyed. “It’s called a bishop, Dawn. And I think I’m done for the day.”

Dawn ploughed on. “How exactly is he a bishop again? All I see is a frowny face with a ball on its head. Sort of like a clown hat. Do you think clowns are scary? I always thought they were kind of funny, with the squirting flowers and the shoes. Anyways the knobby guy is way cuter than the ashtray-head.” She looked back up at Willow, whose expression had taken on a rather pinched quality. “What? Am I wrong? He’s got an ashtray for a head. Look at him!” She thrust a rook in Willow’s direction. “What?”

“You know, I won second place at the Sunnydale Regional Junior League Chess Championship back in seventh grade. They said I had the makings of a master. Of course, having haftarah practices three times a week for the next three months totally ruined those prospects.”

Dawn gave her a blank look. “Huh? Are the haftarah the little ones that look like pin heads?”

Before Willow could respond the front door blew open, two fistfuls of grocery bags bursting in. A harried-looking Joyce Summers followed in their wake.

“A little help, here?” she said. “There’s 4 more bags in the backseat.”

Dawn slowly rose to comply with her mother’s request. “Is there ice cream?”

Joyce smiled. “There’s ice cream. And a video. Could you grab it off the dash, honey?”

Dawn leapt at this pronouncement. “Movie night!” She bounded past Joyce and out the door.

Willow reached for a couple of the grocery bags deposited in the foyer. “Dawnie’s quite the, uh, energy ball, isn’t she?”

Joyce grinned. “That’s a diplomatic way of putting it. Is that my old chess set? Gosh, I haven’t played in years.”

Willow glanced at the remains of her defeat as she hauled groceries past and into the kitchen. “Yeah. I taught Dawn how to play this morning. She beat me good.”

Joyce smiled, following Willow. “Is that right? You know, I shouldn’t brag, but I once won a competition. Maybe it’s in the genes.” She missed Willow’s rolling eyes as she opened the fridge. “Perhaps Dawn and I can play together later.”

Willow nudged past Buffy, who remained sitting at the counter, carefully painting tips on her freshly polished nails, oblivious to the goings-on around her. “That’s a great idea,” Willow said. “She’s aces with the horsey.”

Joyce replied from her position leaned over the open vegetable drawer, where she had just deposited a bunch of carrots. “Horsey? It’s called a knight, dear. No wonder she won.”

Willow slumped onto the stool next to Buffy. “Again I say, grumble.”  
  
  
  



End file.
